Viator/Tripadvisor included Halifax Titanic Historical Tours among recommended things to do while in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I had two days to explore the city and signed up for the tour. It was time very well spent. Our local guide, Paul, confirmed the reservation with an email that explained how, where, and when to meet him. He arrived a few minutes early and was waiting when I met him at the Hotel Halifax, where I was staying. After picking up a couple from Ontario we got started on what would be about a six-hour tour.
First thing, and most important to me - Paul was a careful, courteous driver. He knew the roads in Halifax very well, having offered this tour for more than 10 years. The vehicle, a Ford Transit 350 XLT Medium Roof 15 Passenger Van was spacious, comfortable, and had a great field of vision for all of us, no matter which side of the vehicle we were on. He watched the crosswalks, yielding the right of way to pedestrians, and sharing the road with care.
Next, it was easy to understand what Paul was saying (he used a headset microphone). He supplemented his comments with very cool clips from a Canadian Broadcast System historical series, offering graphic supplements to his narrative. With the research and preparation that he built into the tour, we could get a preview of sites we were to visit through these clips. He also saw to it that we had timely restroom breaks and the opportunity to visit local crafts shops, and provided a lunch break where he thoughtfully called in our orders a few minutes ahead of time, so that our food was ready upon our arrival (near the ferry on the Dartmouth side of the river).
The locations he chose were clearly selected with care. Foremost were sites directly relating to two historic events - the sinking of the Titanic (and the role Halifax played in recovery and rescue efforts), and the conflagration on December 6, 1917, when the SS Mont Blanc and SS Imo collided, with the Mont-Blanc carrying 2,925 metric tons of explosives destined for the French war effort. Paul demonstrated a profound understanding of the scale of both tragedies, and brought us to the locations memorializing these events. These included cemeteries honoring the passengers lost from the Titanic's sinking and memorials to those lives lost from the Mont-Blanc explosion.
There was more to the tour, of course. We were able to walk through the beautiful Halifax Public Gardens. We learned of the extraordinary efforts that went into "the Big Lift," where workers raised the height of the Macdonald Bridge spanning Halifax Harbor connecting Halifax with Dartmouth, NS.
Paul explained the role of what now is known as the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, diving into the history of Halifax's settlers. He brought us up to witness the noontime firing of the Citadel's cannon and the changing of the Highlanders Guard. We saw Dalhousie University and the University of King's College, learned about the role Halifax plays in global maritime trade and transportation. And we met some of the craftspeople at Fisherman's Cove in the Eastern Passage.
Throughout the tour, Paul was affable, interesting, and very considerate both as a driver and a tour guide. While I've toured Halifax in the past, and appreciate the interest in seeing the lighthouse at Peggy's Cove, I found the time on the Halifax Titanic Historical Tours was really much better spent. I would add that Halifax is host to hundreds of cruise tours each year; and each of those cruises bring hundreds of visitors to the city. Having a guide like Paul McNeil is, in my view, vastly superior to tours where the numbers are high and logistics are not nearly as nimble and adjustable as Paul's tour was for us today.